NEW YORK (July 6, 2016) — National Urban League President and CEO Marc H. Morial and Erika McConduit, Presidente, and CEO of the Urban League affiliate in Louisiana, today described the shooting of police in Baton Rouge as a horror, and called the level of gun violence in the nation an urgent crisis.

“Our hearts are broken at the news of three more police killed and three more wounded,” Morial said. “The epidemic of gun violence in our nation has been at crisis levels for several years and requires immediate action.”

The Urban League Movement grieves for the slain officers and prays for their families and the wounded officers, Morial said. “The nation must unite in pursuit of peace and justice.”

“These killings are intolerable,” McConduit said. “We have wasted too much time, and lost too many lives. If ever there was a time for the nation to come together and confront the plague of gun violence it is now.”

Morial and McConduit urged elected officials, community leaders and every American to recommit to ending gun violence and healing the rifts between law enforcement and the communities they serve.